(It’s just as important as speaking!) Listening (It’s just as important as speaking!)

Listening v. Hearing Estimation Activity – how much do we listen? What is hearing? The act of receiving sound What is listening? The 4-step process of receiving, interpreting, evaluating, and responding to messages. We listen an average of 55% of the time we are communicating Why is it that we only retain 50% of what we hear? List on board good/bad listening skills (write examples in notes)

Receiving What does this involve? Main idea of receiving: Hearing AND seeing What does this mean? How can we “see” a message? Main idea of receiving: Both eyes and ears play very important roles in the process Eyes read the nonverbal signals Ears hear the verbal message

Interpreting After an effective listener receives a message, they try to interpret the message to fully understand what the speaker is saying. Listen for vocal inflections, tone, pitch, volume, and rate of speaking Look for nonverbal cues – like what?

Evaluating Connect your ideas and feelings about the subject of the message Identify and understand the subject in a message – do you agree, disagree, or need more information?

Responding Speakers get frustrated if they feel like the person they are speaking to isn’t listening A response shows the speaker that they got their message across effectively – or not! Thought speed – listeners process words faster than the speaker can say them – this works to our advantage! How? We can hear up to 500-600 words per minute, but we can only speak an average of 100-150 words per minute

4 Types of Listening Appreciative – for enjoyment or pleasure; using your active imagination to interpret a message Ex: Informational – to gain information and to understand the message Empathetic – to provide emotional support Critical – to evaluate a message to accept or reject it (making a decision or forming an opinion about the message) Ex.:

Barriers to Listening External – noises and distractions (anything annoying) Common classroom external barriers? How can you deal with external barriers as a speaker? As a listener? Speaker – characteristics of the speaker that interfere with listening Appearance & manner Prejudice (you don’t like that person) Lack of believability (Credibility)

Barriers to Listening (cont.) Listener –personal attitudes or behaviors of the listener that interfere with listening Internal distractions – thoughts, feelings, or even physical distress Lack of knowledge – simply don’t understand what the speaker is talking about Personal prejudices – personal beliefs about a certain topic; close-minded; sensitive topics cause barriers Desire to talk - many people would rather talk than listen

Ways to effectively listen Prepare yourself to listen Physically and mentally Take notes Resist distractions Anticipate what the speaker is going to say (following format?) Make sure you understand the message Don’t be distracted by the speaker’s appearance or delivery Don’t jump to conclusions Give everyone a fair chance, even if you don’t like them Best to let the speaker finish before judging. Why? Take it seriously – benefits your grades, relationships, future

Listener’s Responsibilities Avoid rudeness – we are not always aware of how obvious our behaviors are to a speaker Avoid electronic rudeness – no phones out!!! Avoid working on other work No sleeping!! Provide encouragement – how? Find the value in every speech Can you learn anything new? What good delivery techniques is the speaker using? How can I learn from the speaker’s mistakes?